Bless You

[14] nicknames

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EDITED

My teeth gritted together as I clenched my fist, squinting angrily in his infuriatingly calm grey eyes. Beads of sweat dripped from my forehead. But I won't back down. I won't give up.

I had to win.

"The score's twenty to zero. You sure you don't want to stop?" Dominic asked, and even had the audacity to yawn.

"I... need... to... win!" I growled.

Both of us were laying on the gym floor, competing in the most intense arm-wrestling match in history. Of course, it was my idea to start the whole thing. I mean, what else do you do when you're stuck in a gym with the guy you've wanted to defeat from the very beginning?

With great despair, I used my other hand to help my dominant hand. With the satisfying sound of his arm on the floor, I smiled cheekily at him. "I won!"

"Yeah, yeah," he said. Then, he added under his breath, "Cheater."

I tilted my head. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, I think it was something," I said, giving him a warning look. "I think you just said that I was a cheater!"

Dominic merely shrugged. "You don't know that."

"Yeah I do."

"No. I could've said 'litre', or 'meter,' or 'Peter'."

I scoffed. "Yeah, because there's a great reason for you to say those words."

Dominic merely shrugged again. "Yeah, I mean, Peter's a good name for the cat."

We both looked at the black cat who was fast asleep on the other side of the gym. The cat's ear flicked at Dominic's voice.

I raised my eyebrow. "Peter is a horrible name."

Dominic looked offended.

"For a cat," I added, so he won't be so offended.

He still looked offended.

So I patted him on the back. "It's okay. You tried."

He looked less offended.

I thought for a moment while staring at the ceiling. The cat didn't have a name, but we did figure out that the cat was a male.

Male black cat names...

Blacky?

Midnight?

Shadow?

I sighed. All these names were too cliché. I needed something with PUNCH and PIZZAZZ. One that sticks out. So out of this world that people will bow down to me and call me, May, the Name Master.

May, the Naming Wizard.

May, the Ultimate Namer.

I was about to design a sick costume for myself, but I saw Dominic pull out his phone with a frustrated look. He already looks moody 24/7, but this look was moodier than moody.

So I shifted beside him. "What's wrong?"

"My mom," he replied. "I still haven't told her about this... situation." He fiddled with his phone before turning it on.

I peeked at his phone and smiled at his screensaver. It was a selfie of him and a woman—most likely his mom—with a bunny snapchat filter. Dominic, as usual, was straight faced while his mom grinned widely and held up her two fingers in a peace sign.